COSTA MESA --  The winter seasons for Vanguard University are now all underway as women's basketball tipped off the new campaign against Bethesda on Thursday night.  The Lions started a little slow, but victory was never in doubt, as VU almost doubled up the Flames 115-58.  Melissa Akullu almost tied her career-high of 40 points, as she netted 38 Thursday night while grabbing 10 rebounds in the process.  Hunter Simon had a strong debut with 15 points and four rebounds, while Alexa Silva put down 14 points on the night.  VU wins its first game of the year, and the Flames drop to 0-3.
 
What Happened?  The opening basket came from Akullu off an offensive rebound and away went the Blue and Gold, with Airiana Madanski draining a three 30 seconds later to put VU 5-0.  Ahead 11-4 off a three from Silva with 6:34 to go in the first, the Lions turned on the faucet up to high, outscoring the Flames 19-2 the rest of the way.  Akullu racked up 14 points in the first frame and Silva drained two threes to lead the Lions.  Sarah Matossian pocketed four assists and three rebounds and Simon made her first basket as a Lion with 1:32 left in the quarter.
 
Akullu and Simon scored the first four points for the Blue and Gold in the second, but the team then went through a short dry spell.  However, two minutes later, Akullu cashed in again off a nice pass from Silva, and the Blue and Gold were back in business.  Akullu led all players with 11 points in the second frame and the Lions shot 45.5% from the floor, taking a 59-21 lead into halftime.
 
Vanguard scored 28 points in both the third and fourth quarters, though Bethesda had a team-high 20 points in the third frame.  Akullu and Halle Si'i combined to score the first 14 points of the third quarter before Silva and Matossian added in a couple of buckets.  Akullu ended the third with 13 points and Si'i put up 10 points and three assists.
 
The final frame saw a lot of new faces contribute, starting with seven points from Natalie Scherzer on 3-5 shooting, including her first triple as a Lion.  Brittney Tran splashed down from beyond the arc and added in a free throw.  Simon tallied nine points in the quarter and Naomi Hotchkiss grabbed three boards and dished out three assists.  Zoe Duggan also checked in for the first time as part of the Vanguard program and played three minutes.
 
VU shot 58.4% from the floor in the game and went 8-19 (42.1%) from downtown.  Matossian paced the Lions with eight assists and bagged nine rebounds as well.  Jaryn Madsen also had nine points and Si'i finished with four assists and 11 points. 
 
What's Next?  While the win gives Vanguard a nice boost out of the gate, things will quickly scale up.  VU will head off to Great Falls, Montana, and take on #18 Providence next Friday, November 17, at 4:00 pm PST.  VU will take on a team receiving votes or ranked in the latest NAIA poll four times in the next seven games.